Thursday, September 11, 2008

The Ones I Breathe

Emma's Revolution won't let me forget the raw intensity I felt after 9/11. This song is about memory, about sadness, about justice.

If I Give Your Name

Mi esposa, my wife, worked on the 80th floorThe company had hired illegals beforeShe got the job by word of mouthThat's the way in the north when you're from the south

They say 3,000 but the counting's not doneMi esposa está muertaThree thousand and one

Chorus:I have no papers, I have no rightsAll my days end in sleepless nightsMissing you, silentlyIf I give your nameWill they come after me?

Mi hermano, my brother, the elevator manA doctor in our country but you take what you canI saw the photos in Union SquareBut I could not leave his picture there

They say 3,000 but that's not trueMi hermano no volveráThree thousand and two

Chorus

Mi hija, my daughter, went in early that dayShe had always been that wayHer daughter asks, "Where did she go?"How to tell her, I don't know

They say 3,000 but that can't bePerdí a mi hijaThree thousand and three

Chorus

Mi padre, my father, I have no wordsI tried to find you when I heardThey gave some ashes to familiesBut I'll only have the ones I breathe

They say 3,000 there's so many moreDesaparecidosThree thousand and four

Chorus

Mi esposa, my wife. Will they come after me?Mi hermano, my brother. Will they come after me?Mi hija, my daughter. Will they come after me?Mi padre, my father. If I give your name,Will they come after me?

2 comments:

What powerful lyrics. Wow. It really brings light to part of the tragedy of 9/11 that so many of us never think of. What DO those people do about their missing family members? How is their mourning different from those who CAN put the persons picture up?

Very sad, very moving, so illustrative of some of the problems with inequities in our society. Thank you for posting this.

My sadness today came from reflecting on how this country reacted to the loss of 9/11 by striking out and creating far greater losses around the world. How different would this day of rememberance been if we had found the wisdom to build security through strengthening our local, national, and global communities? Are we any wiser today?